Coverage for young is critical

Before passage of the Affordable Care Act, becoming an adult meant getting kicked to the curb when it came to health coverage.

By Michelle Singletary

recordnet.com

By Michelle Singletary

Posted Sep. 18, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Michelle Singletary

Posted Sep. 18, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

Before passage of the Affordable Care Act, becoming an adult meant getting kicked to the curb when it came to health coverage.

"Our gift used to be when people turned 19 was to take away their health insurance," said Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "Turn 19, and we kick them out."

If you were in college, you could usually stay on your parents' insurance until you turned 22. But until health care reform came about, young adults who didn't find jobs with health coverage or qualified for government insurance were often left uninsured and vulnerable to massive medical bills.

Now there's a present awaiting young adults.

Thanks to the ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare, you may now be able to get insurance or continue to be covered under a parent's plan up to the age of 26. And this coverage is available even if you're married, not living at home, attending school or are financially independent. Starting next year, young adults up to 26 can stay on their parents' employer plan even if they have another offer of coverage through an employer.

And, in just a few weeks, a new marketplace will open giving young adults, particularly those older than 26, another option for obtaining health insurance. Trust me, this is one shopping trip at healthcare.gov that you need to go on.

When you're young and healthy, you may think you can put off getting health insurance. Maybe money is tight and you figure this is something you can delay until you get older, like contributing to a retirement plan.

In June, Kaiser asked young adults whether they wanted and valued health insurance. The answer was a resounding yes, contrary to the conventional wisdom about young adults feeling they are invincible.

Pollitz is passionate about getting out the word to young adults to get health insurance. Although most young adults already have coverage, more than 19 million lack basic health insurance. In 2011, 27.9 percent of Americans ages 19 to 25 were uninsured. About the same percentage in the 25-to-34 age bracket also didn't have insurance, according to Kaiser.

Some young adults might not get health insurance because the penalty for not purchasing it isn't stiff enough. If the government determines that you are in the financial position to pay for coverage and you don't fall under an exemption, you'll have to pay a penalty for being uninsured when you file your federal income tax. The penalty starts at $95 annually next year for an individual and can go up to $285 for a family, or 1 percent of a family's household income, depending on which is higher.

I like to believe millennials are smart enough to recognize they can't afford not to get health insurance. It's a gift that can keep them not only healthy but out of medical debt.

Contact Michelle Singletary, a financial columnist at The Washington Post, at michelle.singletary@washpost.com.